Puddings & Desserts

One of the BEST parts of country living is having access to so much delicious FRESH produce! Some good friends of ours just started growing Rainier cherries here in Mattawa, and they ended up with so much extra, they delivered crateful’s to all their friends and neighbors! We are so lucky!! We have been eating them like crazy, but since there’s so many, and there’s only 4 of us… I have been thinking of some delicious, creative ways to use them. Tonight I was making a traditional thai mango and sticky rice dessert, and thought i’d change things up a bit by adding some of the Rainier cherries, and a little lime! The dish not only turned out way more beautiful than usual… but the flavors worked so well together, it was delicious, and summery, and my little family loved it! We hope you do too! P.S. I wish I could share out some of these cherries!More

I fell in love with Panna Cotta last summer when my husband and I stumbled upon one of the most fantastic little restaurants we have ever been to, in Skiathos, Greece. It has been in the back of my mind to learn how to re-create one like that ever since, but I think I have procrastinated the ‘challenge’ out of pure intimidation. I have watched Master Chef judge, Graham Elliot, and his contestants make them — some with great struggle, and some with such finesse, that I didn’t know which would be worse… not being able to make one as pretty and as perfect as Graham Elliot’s, or not being able to make one at all, like the contestants.

Life has finally started to slow-down, to the point where I can bake during the day for FUN and not because ‘I have to,’ {for someone or some special occasion}. I wanted to find a recipe that was quick and easy enough for the kids to help out, so we could have fun baking together, and to find a new go-to recipe that the entire family would LOVE, that wasn’t chocolate chip cookies–{boring!} My husband is REALLY difficult to please when it comes to desserts–he’d take a cheese-plate over a cupcake any day– but the one thing he does go crazy for is a crumble, so I decided to make these raspberry coconut crumble bars.More

My Grandad turned 80 on sunday, and I wished so badly I could have popped over to see him in England because I miss him so much, but instead I called him for a chat and we were reminiscing a little bit. He said: “do you remember when you told your mother: ‘Mum, I don’t want to eat here, I want to go to Grandad’s house for dinner, because he cooks better.” We were laughing because as a kid I had no idea how offensive that would have been to my poor Mum! But while we had good food at home, it was always fun to pop next door to my Grandads house, and sit on his knee while he fed me, especially as they always had delicious desserts after every meal! One of my favorite things that he and my Granny would make was jam and coconut sponge, which is such a delicious, classic English dessert that just reminds me of them whenever I eat it.

When I was at BYU I had the opportunity to do a study abroad in Thailand for a few months, and while I was there, I fell in love with “Khao Niew Mamuang.” I’m not sure if I loved it so much because it was the BEST dessert they had in Thailand, or because it was the ONLY dessert they seemed to have in Thailand… but either way, it was awesome, and I probably ate way too much of it! My room-mate and I would go to the night-market quite regularly, and it was always served best out of plastic containers from the street vendors there.

About Me

Hi, i’m Sarah. Welcome to “Mattawa Mum” a place for me to share my life as an English stay at home Mum of two, in a small American farm town known as Mattawa. Life out here in the middle of nowhere has been one hard adjustment--I used to live an hour from London, and now I live an hour from a decent grocery store, but I have found that working hard, keeping busy and learning all I can, help me focus on more positive things as I grow as a wife, mother, artist, crafter, photographer, home-cook and now “Country-girl!” I hope you stay a while, and find something fun to read, cute to copy, or good to eat!